Special guests, Hugo Swire MP and Exmouth Town Mayor, John Humphries watched as club president Jim Wood performed the unveiling ceremony in front of a large group of invited guests including representatives of the funding bodies and construction teams. Mr Swire and the mayor were then tempted to show their skills with the bat against the colts bowling machine.

The new nets provide three high quality bays and a throw down area and have been funded through Viridor Credits Environmental Company and the England and Wales Cricket Trust. The nets were constructed by ClubTurf and replaced the old nets which were built almost 20 years ago and opened by then club president Dame Mary Bridges and Martyn Moxon of Yorkshire.

Club chairman, Richard Butler said: “This is a tremendous boost for the club and hopefully will help develop many future generations of young cricketers. In particular we want to target local schools who have been very supportive of the scheme. Sandy Allen, the former Warwickshire and current Devon player and now head coach at the club, sees the nets as an important aid to the development of young cricketers.

A second plaque was unveiled at the pavilion where a new state of the art heating system, new showers, a disabled toilet and umpires room have been provided. These developments were provided by Whitescape and funded through Sport England’s Olympic Lottery Fund. Much of the final decoration of the facilities was done in-house by the club’s volunteers.